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Company History The history of CherryPie Productions is a long, sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet, but always interesting one. If you are so inclined please fell free to read all about it. Foundations The earliest origins of the company can be found in the hallowed turf of St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, sometime in the week starting January 25, 1999. In that faithful place during that faithful week, two very different ventures were seperately taking shape, neither aware that both would come to influence the other in unimaginably fruitful and beneficial ways. The first event was a partly improvised play entitled Oedipus: A Context. This play was the brainchild of one Martin French and the staging of it was a necessary part of the MA in Theatre Studies which he was doing in Pat's at the time. It was during the week of January 25 that Martin's plans for the play were cemented, mainly due to the acquisition of his cast members (especially the brillant Neil Gorman as Oedipus and the influencial Darren Kelly as Crion). Also important was the fact that Martin received the backing of the English Department to go into preproduction. As all this was going on, two friends, Stephen Campbell and Ailish Corcoran, were being far less productive and were sitting around doing absolutely nothing when, for some bizarre reason that has never been properly explained, Ailish got it into her head to make a film. There was no cast, no crew, no loctions, no equipment, no screenplay, no money, no nothing - it was a situation which Stephen (always the budding, never the bud) lept on. CherryPie Productions had been accidentally conceived. The birth was soon to follow. As time moved on, Stephen and Ailish began to come up with more and more ideas for the film venture while Martin's play continued to go from strength to strength. Martin, Stephen, Ailish and Neil all had regular contact and were all friends, but as of yet no links were formed between the two projects. It was only with the conception of the idea that would become Admonition that the bridge was formed. Both Ailish and Stephen agreed that the perfect man to play the lead role of Dark Man was Neil. Stephen approched the actor who immediately accepted the project. Neil reported back to Martin who only now became aware of how serious Stephen and Ailish actually were. It was now, only one week before Oedipus was staged, the week starting Feburary 22, that Martin invited both Stephen and Ailish onto the Oedipus team - Stephen as visual technology supervisor, Ailish as lighting technician. They both joined up and, after seeing Martin's work on the play, immediately offered him the tricky job of production designer on Admonition. He accepted. One week after Oedipus' super successful run, with all four of the major players now in place, CherryPie Productions offically came into being when Stephen came up with the name and Martin, Ailish and Neil all pledged their support. Growth Over the next few weeks, Stephen, Martin and Ailish were busy with preproduction work on Admonition, while Neil prepared for his role opposite Terry O'Brien's White Man. This preproduction work consisted mainly of acquiring a cast, locations, materials and equipment (using money borrowed from St. Pat's Student's Union plus some raised themselves). On March 19, after a lot of hard work, endless meetings and countless favours, Admonition, the first true venture of the founding fathers of CherryPie Productions began principal photography. It was on this night that a friend of Ailish's, Debbie Molloy, came to the set and joined the crew. For a long time, Debbie would prove to be a great friend of CherryPie, but in the long run that would change somewhat. Admonition finished shooting on Sunday 28 March, one day over schedule and about �100 over budget. The shoot had been tiring, straining and stressing but had also been a great learning experience and had facilitated the company in acquiring the servces of Andy Bertaut, a member who would prove to be beyond invaluble in the future. Go to page 2 of the history Back to home |
| Last updated 3 June 2003 |
| The Founding Fathers Stephen Campbell Ailish Corcoran Martin French Neil Gorman |
| The First Supporters Andy Bertaut Debbie Molloy |
